noun
-
outward appearance, esp without any inner substance or reality
-
a resemblance or copy
Etymology
Origin of semblance
1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French, equivalent to sembl ( er ) to seem ( see resemble) + -ance -ance
Explanation
Semblance is all about illusion. Cramming all of your dirty clothes into the closet gives the semblance, or false appearance, that you've done your laundry — but the stench might give you away. Semblance comes from the 14th-century French word for "resemble," and it is a noun for things that look one way on the outside but are very different on the inside. A popular combination is to say that a person or place has the "semblance of order," when, underneath, everything is out of control.
Vocabulary lists containing semblance
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Romeo and Juliet
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The Pearl
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When the slumming Ponce, who lives somewhere else and who picked up a semblance of education, tries to explain that all earthly agriculture is reliant on bees, he gets blowback.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
While any semblance of normal life has been shattered for some, it is tentatively resuming for others.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
On the court, the well-spoken, thoughtful Klugo sheds any semblance of the person who takes time to answer questions and lists off numbers about hearing loss.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
It felt as if Newcastle had rediscovered a semblance of momentum in the final throes of a draining campaign after picking up seven points from a possible nine.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
They flailed at their oars, digging them too deep in the water or too shallow, out of time with one another, angry and desperate to catch up, losing all semblance of form.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
